Study: Public employees better-educated, more skilled, earn less

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Are workers in the public sector really overpaid and too comfy for their own good? According to a new study from the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and National Institute on Retirement Security, not really. Analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed that state and local government employees are generally better-educated than their counterparts working in the private sector, but earn less overall, even including benefits such as health care and pension plans.

From the study:

Public and private workforces differ in important ways. For instance, jobs in the public sector require much more education on average than those in the private sector. Employees in state and local sectors are twice as likely as their private sector counterparts to have a college or advanced degree.

Wages and salaries of state and local employees are lower than those for private sector workers with comparable earnings determinants (e.g., education). State employees typically earn 11 percent less; local workers earn 12 percent less.

Over the last 20 years, the earnings for state and local employees have generally declined relative to comparable private sector employees. The pattern of declining relative compensation remains true in most of the large states we examined, although some state-level variation exists.

Benefits (e.g., pensions) comprise a greater share of employee compensation in the public sector. State and local employees have lower total compensation than their private sector counterparts. On average, total compensation is 6.8 percent lower for state employees and 7.4 percent lower for local workers, compared with comparable private sector employees.

The study predicts future difficulty recruiting new public servants as the economy recovers and the private sector beckons. Does this seem plausible in New York?

The findings of this study indicate that public employees have, for a long time, been doing their “fair share” to control public expenditures by accepting employment contracts that earn them less than their private sector counterparts. Yet there are still calls to do more through give-backs and furloughs……

You may want to take a look at the web site for the “Center for State and Local Government Excellence and National Institute on Retirement Security.” I wouldn’t exactly say that it is a shock that they found some numbers to back up the conclusion that they sought to reach. As for an objective analysis, you will need to look elsewhere.

To your question, yes it does. The last time I went to hire someone, 9 of the 11 potential candidates provided thru the Civil Service system could not speak English well(nor Spanish) and were incapable of writing 2 clear sentences in English. Most of the 9 were on temporary work visas, hoping to get a permanent visa by having a government job. Several were very technically competent, but this was a position with daily public contact, a need to handle public meetings, and write correspondence to professionals and governmental officials. The person I ended up hiring lasted two years because the pay was so low and was able to get another job (in this market) paying $25k more. I am in frequent contact with Jrs and Seniors from my alma mater. They won’t even consider applying for a State job because the starting pay, in our field, is $25 -$40k less than the private section and there are no pure merit promotions. This is, of course, in addition to the new Tier 5 plan, reduce job security, and the near total elimination of promotion opportunities.

Having an administration devoid of anything resembling leadership or experience (it should be abundantly clear by now that Senate Minority Leader is inadequate preparation for the second floor) doesn’t help.

Nor does a workforce full of would-be retirees who bought the stock market sucker’s game earlier this decade and lost a good chunk of their retirement savings. Senior employees aren’t leaving their jobs, limiting advancement through the ranks.

Future hiring difficulty? In our dept we have a hard time even finding qualified IT candidates that will even talk to us for the salary range we have posted. Personally I took the job because it was enjoyable and because of earning stability more than absolute pay.

This survey merely serves to excuse the overpayment of state workers by saying that they’re better educated. As the study even admits, very few public sector jobs have direct analogs to the private sector, making a legitimate comparison difficult if not impossible.

I have long held that it should not take a master’s degree in education to teach the same stuff that you should’ve learned in high school. If we are to fix the overcompensation crisis in the government workforce, we must address the over-education crisis first.

This is something that every state employee who has worked for state government for any period of time has always know and has been saying all along. The problem is that the media and the governor continue to fan the flames of outrage over our compensation. The Governor or any other legislator could be dispelling the misinformation out there by stating that the employee salaries are not the problem with the budget, and that the state workforce has received many years of 0 increases but the public outrage continues. No one will be satisfied until government employee lose thier jobs, raises, and pensions. Then when they can no longer recruit new employees and sevice to the public suffers they will complain about that. Stop the hatred toward the state employees the budget is not our faults.

I’m sure the more virulent anti-state worker commentors here will either ignore this scholarship entirely or attack it emotionally. At the end of the day, the state’s labor force is asking only that its employer honor its contract. The fact that the state never planned for a rainy day is not the responsibility of that work force. (In fact, one could argue it’s ultimately the responsibility of the voters who never insisted on such forward planning; but that’s an argument for another day.) The unions know full well that a parade of goose eggs and givebacks are coming after this year–if indeed any contract at all will be possible. Ther’s no complaint about that fact. This report, though, underlines the central fact. Over the last three decades, there have been many years where goose eggs and increases far below the rate of inflation were the norm–and overall compensation fell behind. The emotional outbursts of the haters have no rational foundation. Don’t expect that to stop them, though.

Gee exactly what we’ve known all along. We are intelligent, do make less and out preform out private sector counterparts. For those of you that still feel we are lazy and overpaid.. Welcome to the facts and reality.. We Aren’t!

Speaking of benefits, Laura could you do a post on why the Empire Plan is not taking advantage of the new federal Health Reform law and picking up children up to 26 years now rather than waiting until January 2011. Other health insurers for the state are doing it early. http://www.healthreform.gov/forums/blog/earlyenrollment_1.html

Where do the numbers come from?
Did the author pull them out of thin air?
Are you only comparing the salary of the Governor to the president of the corporation?
Where’s the table of comparison and the sources of information?

Those who whine and complain about the fat behinds of lazy government workers, take heed to this article. Stop feeding into the stereotype.

Understand that people are attracted to state service (1st) because of the stability of the job (including the salary, benefits and guaranteed pension negotiated in good faith between the union and the State);
(2nd) candidates sit for exams because they’re qualified; (3rd) employees get hired because they score really well; (4th) civil servants stay… 20 years, 25 years, 30 years… it’s not that uncommon. They don’t bounce from one job to the next, from one agency to the next, from one state to the next.

NYS needs to seriously consider succession planning in all state agencies. The institutional knowledge being lost now and in the next few years due to retirement can never be replaced. That means education and commitment should be valued now more than ever. You simply cannot attract and retain quality individuals if you repeatedly denigrate their services, breach their contracts and treat them with contempt.

Those who climb on their soapbox and shout the loudest are reckless for feeding into the stereotypes about state workers and services, and they are often ignorant about the facts.

Dear God – let me get this straight – you are relying on a study by “Center for State and Local Government Excellence”. Yes – that’s an unbiased source isn’t it? Let’s see – who is the “Center for State and Local Government Excellence”

And I quote:
Their Mission: The mission of the Center for State and Local Government Excellence is to help state and local governments become knowledgeable and competitive employers so they can attract and retain talented, committed, well-prepared individuals to public service.

Their People: The Center is honored to have a Board of Directors composed of national leaders who have served at the highest levels of government, media, and state and local government associations, who are supported by a staff dedicated to the cause of public service.

Most of the Board of Directors are former Government Workers. Why don’t you just quote a study by the CSEA or PEF? Fact is NY State government workers do less work and get paid far more than any private sector position that can even equate to the dismal ‘productivity’ of someone in the public sector.

Most NY State government positions are no different from someone who is on welfare, except they get bigger handouts and usually have to do less for them.

I appreciate someone pointing out some of these issue. We received information today that indicated if this furlough goes through, then it could essentially trickle down to a job loss for nearly 14,000 private sector employees. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen too.

Thanks for putting a brake on all the anti-state worker hysteria about cushy jobs and not deserving what they get. Now all the private sector workers can volunteer to give up their own salaries on a furlough since they make more than state workers.

I think wages vary depending on the level a person is at in both the public and private sector– and depending on the position. For example, someone at a newspaper might earn more at the State, but someone at a management level at the state might earn less then thier counterpart in the private sector. Also, at the state, there are Civil Service regs and requirements that often negate a person from the opportunity, simply because he or she is not high enough on a list. Perhaps he or she is more suited to the job, but they can’t be “reached.” Just because someone is No. 1 on the list, doesn’t necesarilly mean they are good at the job; it could mean they are good at taking tests. So, yes, I think recruiting good employees in the public sector will get harder.

State employees underpaid? I haven’t hear that much malarkey in a long, long time. It would take me all of half an hour to reduce the state budget deficit to zero. First, you could get rid of the entire Dept. of Housing and Community Renewal which serves no useful purpose, employees thousands, and basically controls the bizarre renting practices of New York City, with no benefit at all to the rest of the state or to the city, for that matter. Then look at the surplus in the education dept., dept. of state, dept. of transportation,departments of health & mental health. You could have a field day with cutting the years’ accumulation of uselessness therein. That doesn’t even begin to deal with the various “authorities” that have been set up to spend more state money; or to dismantling the totally corrupt medicaid system that is bankrupting counties around the state. Keep public employment to an absolute minimum and you’ll find your deficits disappearing while your taxes are decreasing.

I once worked for a state agency that was responsible for an area of public policy that was truly fascinating to me. I threw myself into learning everything I could about it. After a few years, I found myself sitting across a table from a deputy commissioner who told me that the fact that I frequently attended conferences on my own time and dime and invested a huge amount of time reading and studying our field . . . Well, let me put it in his words: “A person like you is considered a threat.” There’s nothing like receiving constant validation for your performance.

Seems as though the economy is not recovering so I doubt there will be recruiting problem in the near term. A bigger detriment to becoming a public employee is the stigma attached to it (Once your in you cannot get out).

My experience as a public employee suggests that there is some truth to the lazy PE. I think it’s caused by the Civil Service System that must be modified to allow both positive and negative inducements (with teeth) to end this stigma

“Wages and salaries of state and local employees are lower than those for private sector workers.” That’s because public sector jobs don’t include stress, deadlines, and accountability. Which are all hallmarks of private sector jobs, where employers expect results beyond merely showing up for work and reading the newspaper.

Finally someone sees this and puts it out there. To all of the private sector workers who say we (state employees) make too much, have you seen the salary scale for State Employees? And I don’t mean just those above a grade 18 that all the papers love to use as examples. The majority of the state workforce is made up of clerks in the lower grades, 6′s, 9′s and the like. Check out the starting salary for a grade 6 and then tell that person they make too much. To give you an example, a 2 week paycheck for me after taxes is about $880. That’s right..TWO weeks pay. If they mandate furlough’s and take a day per week, my two week paycheck will drop to about $680. Most of my friends in the private sector make more in a week than I make in two weeks. Stop using the state employees as an excuse for all the state’s problems. It certainly isn’t my fault that the state is broke or my fault that God forbid, they work a 5 day week, earn their pay and get this thing moving in the right direction. Are the Assmebly and Senate going to lose a days pay per week? I bet not, and where does their salary come from? Oh that’s right, the state has to budget for that too, but there is never an issue coming up with that money or voting themselves a raise. Who wouldn’t kill for a job where you get a car, cheuffer and only have to work 3 part time days a week?! I’d bet my 2 days furlough pay that state employees and private sector employees can agree on the irony of this!

It’s true. State workers probably are paid less than our private industry counterparts; Even though we are in fact more educated, smarter, more dedicated, we’re taller……and overall much more attractive looking people! Therefore, it stands to reason that we need our 4% raises so that it could at least appear as though State workers are almost paid as much employees in the private sector!